20 Enlightening Quotes By George Orwell

George Orwell (1903-1950) was one of the most profound social critics of the modern period. Some of his sayings, more than a half a century old, prove the depth of his insight about the future. In his most famous book, 1984 (published in 1949), Orwell predicted many things that characterize today's world.

Some of the following quotes can be found in his well known books, 1984 and Animal Farm (1945). Take a good look at them and you'll be surprised by his awareness of social injustice as well as his sarcasm.
1) “He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past.” (1984)

2) “Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood.” (1984)

15) “Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout with some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.”

16) “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”

17) “Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.”

18) “The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.”

19) “Every generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.”